at the american legion convention in houston, vice president joe biden pledged syria must be held accountable. >> there's no doubt who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in syria. the syrian regime. >> the prime targets, planes, rocket launchers, and artillery used to launch deadly chemicals but not the chemical weapons themselves. and the syrian leadership, including bashir al assad, are not on the target list. there's no word this morning that president obama has given the order. once he does, it could be just a matter of hours before those missiles are flying. matt? >> all right, jim. thanks so much. retired four-star general barry mccaffrey is an nbc news analysis. good morning. good to see you. >> morning, matt. >> let me start by asking you this. some sources in the administration have been briefing reporters on background about our possible course of action against the syrian military, the weapons of choice and perhaps even the timing of it. what good comes of that? why are they doing that? >> well, it's hard to say. this strikes me as very confused signaling of po